Magick of Thought

Psychic Intuitions and Cell Phones

Mike Sententia — Tue, 21 May 2013 03:42:14 +0000

When my phone dies, I miss read most of all. I can still do everything I need to, but I’m so accustomed to that constant flow of information, to having something coming in during any moment of downtime, that it feels unnatural to be without it.

Turning off my psychic intuitions feels similar. (I occasionally turn them off to update how I receive information.) It doesn’t impact my ability to function all that much — I’ll be more likely to miss an awesome restaurant, or see a bad movie, but I made reasonably good decisions for decades before developing psychic intuitions earlier this year. But losing that constant chatter, that passive flow of information, feels unnatural.

Strange, how quickly something goes from a daydream, to difficult-but-possible, to simply being part of our everyday, taken-for-granted experience.

Part 1: What Is Direct Magick?

Mike Sententia — Fri, 17 May 2013 22:04:34 +0000

This is part of An Initiation into Direct Magick – Book 1.

Remember how I said that direct magick was “changing the world through conscious thought,” but that the real explanation required specialized terms? Part 1 (this Part) covers that real explanation.

We’ll start with three questions I asked as I tried to understand how magick works — they were the holes in that understanding. The answers formed the foundation of direct magick. We’ll cover the questions in Chapter 1, and the answers throughout these books.

Chapter 2 will start on those answers. We’ll cover the major moving parts of direct magick, the overall model, and my real definitions of magick and direct magick.

Finally, we’ll make the model concrete. We’ll look at magick you might be familiar with, and explain how it works under the hood using the terms and concepts of direct magick.

At the end of Part 1, you’ll have an idea of what direct magick is, and if it’s right for you.

Table of Contents

4 Techniques for Grounding: Conclusion

Mike Sententia — Thu, 16 May 2013 00:06:31 +0000

Looking back on this series, three ideas stand out. First, there is no simple magick. Second, writing helps me learn magick. And third, developing techniques is the main way to test models.

There is No Simple Magick

I thought grounding was simple. It’s one of the first things we teach beginners, and we explain it simply: You just built energy, excess energy gives you a headache, so release it into the ground.

Now I’m realizing, no magick is simple when you get into how it really works. Grounding is less complex than healing, or manifesting, or shielding, or most of the other things we do with magick. But understanding grounding still requires understanding energy signatures, how they mix, how to subtract one signature from another, and how to build energy that, when added to other energy, produces your normal energy signature.

None of that is simple, because at its heart, magick is complex. That’s the price we pay for accuracy.

Writing Helps Me Learn Magick

I developed two techniques in the course of writing this series.

Technique #4 (grounding by building more energy) came to me on the train. It was the morning after seeing my friend use technique #3 (grounding via ethereal software), and the only reason I was thinking deeply about grounding was to prepare for this series. If it weren’t for this blog, I wouldn’t have thought hard enough to see the technique.

And the good version of technique #1, energy flushing? I thought of it as I wrote that post. I was testing the basic, release-your-energy version of grounding, and realized that building energy as I released it would probably flush the unhealthy signature out. That technique, which is now my preferred grounding method for beginners, came from writing that post.

To anyone considering starting a blog: Writing forces you to revisit old problems, and re-solve them with the tools and skills you have today. It helps me learn magick, and it will probably help yours, too.

Test Models by Developing Techniques

The testing in this series is how I generally test new models of magick: I find a technique that the new model says should work, and the old model says should fail, (like building more energy to ground), and I try it. When it works, I figure the new model is on to something, and I start using it.

I also look for techniques the new model says should work particularly well, that the old model wouldn’t single out as anything special, like building more energy as you ground. The standard model doesn’t necessarily suggest it would fail, but it definitely doesn’t predict the technique will work better than just releasing your energy. And when the new model is right again, I become more confident in it.

I build confidence in the new model by using it, by seeing it accurately predict more non-obvious techniques. (“Non-obvious” meaning that the old model either said it would fail, or didn’t consider it particularly special.) There’s never one single test that makes me say the new model is correct, but the more I use it, and the more it’s right, the more confident I become. Until eventually, it’s just easier to speak as though the new model is correct, at least, until a better model comes along.

If I Didn’t Know Computers

Mike Sententia — Mon, 13 May 2013 23:50:02 +0000

Between ethereal software, debugging, and the computational complexity of manifesting, it’s obvious I work with computers. But what if I didn’t? What if I lived before computers? How would I explain magick?

A non-programmer friend asked me that recently. My reply: Probably as spirits. I’d say there were intelligent, sentient spirits, which are the same as what I currently call spirits. Then I’d also say there were less intelligent, non-sentient spirits that you could command, which are what I currently call ethereal software.

If you’re confused by the term “ethereal software,” just think of them as simple, programmable spirits.

Does that help the non-programmers among you?

Advanced Grounding (Technique #4)

Mike Sententia — Fri, 10 May 2013 21:51:41 +0000

This series started back in January, and this technique builds on concepts in the first post. You might want to review it now.

The standard (incorrect) model of grounding I grew up with says that the headache that sometimes comes after energy work is caused by too much energy, and that grounding is about releasing the excess energy. My model of grounding — the one I’ve developed as an adult — says the headache comes from getting your energy in the wrong signature, and that grounding is about returning your signature to normal, and has little to do with the quantity of energy.

When I started this series, I hadn’t thought seriously about grounding in years. It was a solved problem, so why bother? But, returning to grounding after doing lots of direct healing work, it was immediately obvious that my grounding model made an unexpected prediction: You should be able to return your energy to its normal signature — that is, you ought to be able to ground — by adding more energy, rather than releasing the energy.

The traditional model, of course, would predict that adding more energy would make matters worse, no matter its signature. And whenever two models predict opposite results, there’s only one thing to do: Test it.

I admit, I was a bit nervous. Clear-cut tests — places where you can be wrong, and know you’re wrong — do that to a person. It’s only natural, and I say this in the hopes that you will accept your own nervousness and do the test anyway.

But I tried it, on the subway ride home from seeing the ethereal software-based grounding for the first time. Then I tried it again, with different types of energy, and a few more times. And each time, adding more energy (in the right signature) grounds extremely well.

Here’s the technique. It’s designed for me, using all the building blocks and techniques I know. It’s useful because it doesn’t open your shields or release energy into the area around you, which can attract unwanted attention from spirits and other mages. But just a heads up, it’s not novice-friendly. (If you’re looking for a good beginner technique, use energy flushing.)

The Technique

Simply build the right signature of energy in your body. That’s all. The key, of course, is figuring out the right signature.

To do that, I need to introduce a concept from math and physics, delta. It just means difference, or change. If you have a glass of water at 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and you heat it to 45 degrees, the delta is 5 degrees.

Here, we’re interrested in the difference between your normal signature and the weird signature in your body that’s making you need to ground. We’ll call the difference between those two signatures the “delta signature.” If you imagine your normal signature as green, and your current signature as yellow, then the delta signature is blue, because yellow + blue = green — that is, (current signature + delta signature) = target signature — and here, the target signature is our normal, grounded signature.

Of course, imagining green and yellow and blue won’t get you anywhere. Signatures aren’t colors, finding the delta signature is a bit tricky, and you need to guide your mental muscles through the process. That’s why this is an advanced technique. It’s something I learned for healing, and we’ll cover it in Book 3, but for now, I just want you to get the concept.

But back to grounding: You build energy in the delta signature, mix it with your current signature, and they add up to your normal, grounded signature. When I do this, returning to my normal signature gets rid of my headache and weird feelings immediately. (Though if you waited a while to ground, maybe 30 minutes or more, the weird signature would already have seeped into your cells, and it’ll take a few minutes before they fully return to normal.)

There was an interesting side effect, too: Adding all this energy to my body, while remaining in my normal signature, made me feel slightly more alert. Not as alert as the technique designed to increase alertness, but enough to be noticeable, and to show me that alertness is the actual result of having extra energy in your body’s normal signature, not a headache or any other problem as predicted by the standard model of grounding.

Two notes:

The delta signature will be different depending on the signature you’re in at the moment. It’s not a single universal signature; it’s something you calculate each time you ground.
If you build too much energy in the delta signature, you’ll push yourself past your normal signature, and into another weird signature that causes headaches and other problems. If this happens, calculate a new delta signature based on your body’s current energy signature, build some of that new delta signature, and go more slowly, so you can stop once you return your energy to normal. (Or use the energy flushing technique, then try this advanced grounding again later.) (Note: This didn’t happen to me, but it’s clearly predicted by the model, so figured I’d mention it.)

The Importance of Eating Well

Mike Sententia — Wed, 08 May 2013 22:22:03 +0000

I’m consulting this week. In Florida, where it’s all chain restaurants with mediocre, unhealthy food. And I’m realizing, eating poorly impacts my magick practice.

It ought to be obvious: It’s hard to focus if you’re hungry or just feeling out of sorts from eating something too heavy. And eating unhealthy makes you tired, which makes me more likely to make excuses and watch TV, rather than doing work.

Today, I had a food bar when I got home. Nothing fancy, but whole grains, low sugar, reasonably healthy. And I feel much better, ready to write — that’s this post here — and maybe ready to do some magick practice too.

So, add this to my checklist when I’m practicing magick less than I’d like: Am I eating healthy?

Remembering to Heal Myself

Mike Sententia — Tue, 07 May 2013 10:17:15 +0000

I often tell you about effective healings. Today’s post is about forgetting to do them.

In India, I made myself more alert one afternoon. I did it for Lynae, too. Later in the week, I was complaining about being tired, and she suggested using that same technique. It seemed obvious, but I hadn’t even thought of it. And once I stopped whining about not wanting to do magick while I’m tired, I did the technique, and felt much better.

This happens often. A friend is itchy or in pain, and I want to heal them. But I’ll stub my own toe, and it just seems easier to ignore it than to heal it.

Remember healing my cold in India? I’d had the cold for a week, but only got around to healing it after working on Lynae’s cold. It took that to jog my memory.

I’m not sure why I don’t heal myself more. I should. I’d be happier if I were sick and tired less, and these healings are an easy way to practice more each day.

And yet, when I’m tired or sick or in mild pain, the simple act of focusing my mind and finding the right mental posture for magick seems to be too much. Easier to just stay where I am, rest more, feel better naturally, slowly.

I feel like there’s a solution here. Now that I’ve written it down, maybe I’ll see it when I’m more awake.

…

Hold on, I’m being dumb again. I realize that a few seconds after writing that last paragraph, and make myself more alert.

The solution, I think, is to keep in mind that it’s laziness about finding my mental posture that’s keeping me from healing myself, and to make a habit of engaging my mental muscles before deciding to be lazy. Because if I’m already over that hump, maybe the rest of it won’t seem so difficult.

Thoughts? Does this happen to you, where you’re more likely to help friends than to help yourself? How do you handle it?

Improving on the Spirits We Channel

Mike Sententia — Fri, 03 May 2013 19:24:43 +0000

Another interesting post on Strategic Sorcery, We Are Spirits:

So there are a number of posts floating around about Why Evocation is important. Here is Aaron Leitch. Mike C. The commonality among them is an assertion that magic works through the agency of spirits and that any assertion otherwise is modern and incorrect.

[...]

You see, we are spirits too.

Yes, we have bodies, but within those bodies we have spirit and soul. People have power.

This begs the question: What would it take to do what spirits do? What would you have to understand in order to drive the magick yourself, with your own mind, rather than relying on a spirit?

And the follow-up question: If you understood all that — if 100 or 1000 or 1,000,000 people understood that — what else could we create that the spirit hasn’t figured out yet?

Returning to Magick

Mike Sententia — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:06:50 +0000

I fly home tonight. After 2 weeks total in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai, I’ll be glad to see San Francisco again. It will seem so quiet and calm.

I’ve been loving my recent travel, both Singapore and India. And the consulting hours have been good for me, too. But I’ve spent too much time focusing on things other than magick, and I’m eager to return to my true passion.

For the second half of May and all of June, I’m planning to take a break from consulting and travel. I’ll write more of my book — the next section is started, but nothing publishable yet — and focus on my own magick studies.

No deep insight here. Just know that, if your work and social life are distracting you from your magick studies, you’re not alone. And all it takes is a decision to focus on magick again, and the will to make the time to do it.

Recognizing Different Energy Signatures

Mike Sententia — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 04:44:46 +0000

Seth is starting to work with energy and grounding. He asks:

I was reading the grounding [post], and how do I know what type of signature of energy I’m building up? You said if its your body’s normal signature, you’ll just feel alert (in the grounding series). For a novice, what sort of signature of energy would be building up by visualizing the mist, would it be the same as the body’s?

This is one of the hardest things I write about: How does energy feel, and how do I know what signature I’m building.

We want to talk about the signature, or type, of energy. Except that energy signature is like color: Almost impossible to describe without referencing another color. Sure, you can say that purple is between blue and red, but if someone is blind, how do you explain color in the first place?

So, the first step is to become non-blind. Start working with energy, start noticing it in the trees and people and everything else around you. Then, when I say, “The signature of inflamed tendons,” you’ll know what that means, just like you know what blue means because you’ve seen it before.

As for what type of energy you would build from visualizing a white mist, it’ll be different for everyone, but if you feel it, it’s not your body’s normal signature, because your body’s normal signature just feels normal.

Why will it be different for everyone? Well, a visualization is way to communicate your intent to your mental muscles, but how they interpret that intent is anyone’s guess. They might make a normal default energy because you think of white as an empty color, or they might make a clean alert energy because you associate white light with daytime and work. Or maybe you associate white with healing, except your mental muscles don’t know what energy does healing, so they make something else. Especially when you’re starting out, it’s hard to know exactly how your mental muscles will respond to any particular visualization, especially one someone else made, since some aspects of it might speak to your unconscious mind, and some aspects might not.

I wish I had simple answers. “Just imagine X and you’ll do Y” is much more palatable than “Look at energy every day, and in a few months, you’ll start to recognize different energies, and then you can learn useful techniques.” But the truth is, magick is an art, and the first step is merely learning to see.

See this post for the basics on sensing energy, and this series for a more advanced technique I’ll rewrite and simplify in my book. And for more energy visualizations, including another one from Seth, see this comment thread.